by E A Price
His bear rumbled encouragingly. Flirting was a good thing, even if she wasn’t very good at it. Then, neither was he. Normally he just grunted at women, and that seemed to get the job done.
“First lady,” he corrected gruffly.
Cecile smiled sweetly. “You think I’m a lady?”
“Yes.”
The smile widened. “You think I’m refined?”
“Yes.”
The smile wilted. “You think I’m stuck-up, boring and prissy?”
“No!” he growled as his beast snarled.
“Yes, you do,” she said sadly.
“I don’t.”
“I can be just as unrefined as anyone at the SEA,” she declared hotly. “F…f…fart! See?”
Boris stared at her for a few seconds before the chortle of laughter burst out of his mouth. Hearing the effort it took her to say that word was damned hilarious. She pouted for a moment before she gave in and giggled.
Cecile rubbed her thigh and Boris tried not to drool as he watched.
“My first ex-husband thought I was too much of a prude. Just because I wanted him to use coasters and take his shoes off at the door.”
“Nothing wrong with being tidy.” He was a testament to that. Boris was a lot of things, but he couldn’t abide mess and almost obsessively cleaned his own apartment.
“My second ex-husband…”
Boris turned to her, scowling. “I don’t give a fuck what any man dumb enough to let you go thinks.”
Cecile’s mouth was an O of surprise before she started blushing and hesitantly said, “Earlier, I couldn’t decide whether you were just being a good Samaritan or whether you were as attracted to me as I am to you.” She placed a graceful hand on his thigh.
Inwardly, his bear growled excitedly. “And now?”
Her eyes glittered with lust, and her breaths came out in pants. “Kiss me,” she whispered, “please.”
His lips curled up into a predatory grin. “So polite.”
She lowered her eyes and for a moment he thought he’d ruined the moment. But no, if anything her arousal heightened.
“I’ll even say thank you after.”
Boris snarled and pulled her onto his lap, crushing his mouth to hers. His tongue insistently drove into her mouth, duelling with hers, demanding and insistent. Fearing he may never get the opportunity again, fearing this was his one chance he wasn’t holding anything back. He wanted her, and he would take her with the savage passion that had been growing within him since she first smiled at him.
His hands found her hips, dragging her over his erection as he plundered her mouth. She moaned against him as she felt the evidence of his desire.
Not waiting for her to change her mind, to come to her senses, he ripped the shirt away from her, only freeing her mouth so he could enjoy the sight of her, naked and beautiful before him. His bear yowled in satisfaction as he took in her lovely body, the graceful lines of her long limbs, her pale, luminous skin. He cupped her pert breasts in his hands, thumbing the pale pink nipples. He kissed his way along her chest, over the dusting of cinnamon-like freckles.
Cecile threaded her fingers through his short hair as she thrust her chest at him, sighing as he sucked one of her orbs into his mouth. Her hands moved to his shoulders, dancing over the ropey muscles before she took hold of his shirt. She whipped it over his head, his mouth barely even leaving her for a second before she moved to his pants. With nimble fingers, she opened them and groaned as she found him conveniently free from underpants. His fat length sprang out, hard and pulsing in her small hand. She stroked him, cooing softly, as he nibbled on her breast.
She braced herself with one hand on the back of the couch and pressed the tip of his manhood to her opening. Boris growled around her flesh and gripped her tiny waist in his meaty hands. There was no hesitation as he forcefully pulled her down his length, enjoying the charming moans as he filled her, growling at the delicious tightness as her inner muscles massaged him.
Fully sheathed, she rolled her hips on him and breathed his name. The sound of his name on her tongue sent his beast wild. “Oh, Boris. Feels so good.”
He grunted in agreement, and with a howl from his beast, he lifted her, dragging her up to the tip before yanking her back down as he thrust his hips. Cecile cried out in ecstasy and wrapped an arm around his neck. He took her as if he didn’t care if he broke her, but nothing could be further from the truth. She was a beautiful woman, made for loving – made to be loved by him. She could take anything he could give her, and moreover, wanted it.
As she screamed the word yes over and over it incited him even more, crashing against her body like a tidal wave. She urged him to go faster, and Boris snarled as his hips, hands and mouth moved in a blur, desperate to give her pleasure, desperate to take his own pleasure. After months of waiting, he couldn’t possibly hold back.
“Coming,” he grunted.
“Yes!” groaned Cecile, and she tensed for a brief moment before throwing her head back and crying out as she climaxed.
Her body shook and pulsated around him. With a roar he followed with his own orgasm, wrapping his arms around her, clutching her to him as he pumped his release inside her. His bear howled in completion at the heavenly sensations, so much better, so much more powerful than anything they had ever felt before.
Panting, he dropped kisses along her lovely neck, careful not to let his fangs touch her. If they did, he might not be able to stop himself from sinking them into her silken skin and making her theirs forever. Something he wanted, but not something he could do without permission.
Feeling as weak as a kitten, more satiated than he could ever remember, he almost said thank you to her, but she beat him to the punch.
“Thank you,” she murmured into his shoulder.
“Welcome,” he rasped, the word not even remotely covering how grateful he was for what just happened.
“Mmmm, my hero,” she murmured contentedly, closing her eyes.
Cecile didn’t even notice as a flash of rainbow light flew out of his chest.
*
Wolfman was feeling dejected. His attempts at heroism had hardly met with success. No way would anyone take him seriously now.
Being a superhero had always been his dream, his greatest wish. Ever since he was a bullied, scrawny six-year-old. He wanted to be like his heroes in his beloved comic books. When he was young, he was a little small for his age. He filled out when he was a teenager, even if he was still a little on the lanky side for a wolf shifter, but the desire to save people, to prove himself was still there. Might have also been something to do with his human dad being killed by a mugger when Wolfman was five – but he didn’t want to examine that.
So when a perfect costume turned up on his couch, along with a police scanner, he knew what he had to do. He just didn’t seem to be able to do it very well.
All he wanted was for someone to see him as a hero. But so far all he’d been called was a menace. Actually, he’d been called a lot worse than that, but those names weren’t worth repeating.
He dragged his heels as he walked home. His inner wolf pouted at him, but he just wanted to get home, crash on his couch and eat his mom’s apple pie. Yes, he was living in her basement, but in his defense, she did all his laundry, and she was the most divine cook on the planet. Plus, she kept faking a heart attack every time he tried to leave. He knew they weren’t real, but guilt was a big enough motivator to keep him at home with her. Hey, it wasn’t like it was going to be forever. His mom would die one day. That day was probably still about forty years away, but still. He just hoped they didn’t veer into Psycho territory when that happened. Nah, they’d never set up a motel.
He was walking home… to his wolf cave, when he heard the loud voices.
“No, Craig, I told you I’m not kissing you right now.”
“Jush one kish,” slurred a male voice.
“No!”
His wolf stirred. Wolfman rounded the corner to find a
large, drunken rhino shifter pressing a gazelle shifter against the wall of an alley. He heard the thumping beats of music and realized it must be the back of a nightclub.
The rhino was trying to kiss her, but the gazelle was dodging his questing lips.
Wolfman’s ire rose. No woman should have to kiss a rhino shifter. He thundered up the alley.
“Leave her alone!” he snarled, rounding on the rhino.
The rhino, distracted by Wolfman’s presence, let the gazelle go and turned to look at him, blinking and weaving slightly.
“What are you shupposhed to be?”
“Your worst nightmare!”
“Hah! I…ugh.”
The rhino, already half-passed out, fell to the ground as the gazelle smashed a bottle on his head. Wolfman frowned and was about to say something when the gazelle flew at him, wrapping her arms around him and lavishing sloppy kisses all over his face.
“My hero!” she cried.
“Well, I…”
The door banged open, and Wolfman scented two more, slightly drunken, female gazelle shifters pouring into the alley.
“What’s going on?” demanded the brunette.
“Craig was trying to stick his fat, ugly tongue down my throat and this man saved me – he’s a hero!” declared the gazelle wrapped around his torso.
The redhead and the brunette, rather than laughing, squealed and ran up to him and started trying to plant their own kisses on him.
“Thank you for saving our sister,” they chorused.
His wolf was all for just enjoying the moment, but Wolfman did try to explain that he really didn’t do much at all other than distract the rhino. However, they wouldn’t listen and after a few moments, he just went with the flow. It wasn’t a grand gesture of heroism, but he guessed to three gazelles, it was a small act and one for which they appeared to be extremely grateful. That was important, too.
Only Wolfman noticed the rainbow light that flowed out of his chest. The gazelles were far too busy.
*
Boris escorted a blushing Cecile into the lobby of the SEA building. She couldn’t help herself. After a night of wild, energetic sex with the most gorgeous man on earth, she was feeling particularly naughty. She was sure everyone would be able to read it on her face. She’d never been quite so… pleasured. So breathtakingly taken over and over to the point where she felt boneless. Sex with her husbands had been great – they were both good lovers, she wouldn’t begrudge either of them that fact. But while sex with them had left her satisfied, sex with Boris left her shattered in an extremely wonderful way. He was like an incredible force of nature, and her swan was hopelessly smitten with the enormous male.
Her cheeks colored as they found Diaz waiting for them. Although, he appeared actually to want to talk to Boris. He frowned as he noticed Boris’ hand on her back, and couldn’t have failed to notice that they smelled of one another, but he was wise enough not to say anything.
“About that damn leprechaun,” started the jaguar shifter.
Boris grunted. Cecile recalled hearing about the incident but didn’t realize Boris had been affected. Oh! Her swan fluttered. She hoped he hadn’t been hurt. Well, his body seemed to be functioning very impressively last night and that morning, not to mention what happened in his truck moments before…
“I was doing some research on our leprechaun pal. The damn creature grants three wishes at a time, but he twists reality and things only go back to normal after each wish comes true.”
Cecile looked at her bear with wide eyes. “Boris were you one of the…”
He grimaced, and Diaz answered for him. “Yep, Boris, My fiancée Penny and some geek civilian got zapped by the fuck… ah,” he modified his language for the sake of Cecile’s delicate ears. “The darn annoying leprechaun.”
“How do you know all this? I thought the leprechaun was just a hoax.”
“Penny’s wish came true,” Diaz said grimly.
“What did Penny wish for?” she asked curiously.
“She… ah, she wished that she knew how I felt about her. So the fuc… the darn leprechaun had loads of strange men fall in love with her so that I would get jealous and admit I loved her.”
Cecile knit her brows together. She could see what he meant about ‘twisting things’. “Ah, yes, that seems somewhat of a circuitous route to make her wish come true.”
Diaz rubbed his jaw. “Tell me about it; Penny was kidnapped, and I nearly lost my mind. Good job I track her phone. And to think, she called me a creepy stalker pervert when I started doing it.” He nodded at Boris. “So what was your wish? Anything unusual happened to you?”
Cecile looked at him anxiously. “Yes, how do we make your wish come true?”
“Already has,” he muttered.
“Oh?”
Boris took her hand and led her away from Diaz, out of the curious jaguar’s earshot. He grunted and scowled a few times. She squeezed his hand, and he sighed.
“I wished you would think I was your hero,” he said resignedly. “I wished you would want to be with me.”
Her hand flew to her mouth in surprise. “Do you think that’s why I’ve had so many near misses?”
Boris growled and looked at the floor. “Yes.”
“Oh, my. So whenever you were near me, bad things happened so you could be heroic.”
“Yes.”
Something niggled at her. Something that she didn’t pick up on at the time. “So when my house caught fire, you were already there in the middle of the night?”
His already tense body actually managed to stiffen even more. “Ah… I sometimes jog past your house.”
“Naturally or because it is my house?”
His expression told her the answer and her swan honked in encouragement.
“You know,” she said, “every morning for the past three months, whenever I arrived at work I would wait in my car for twenty minutes, so I could say hello to you when I came into the building.”
Boris looked up. “What?”
“I’m an early riser, and I have a routine of when I leave for work,” she babbled, feeling her whole body heat under his scrutinizing gaze. “So I had to wait for you to be on duty. I would usually sit in my car and listen to books on tape all because I wanted to say hello to you.”
His face was fifty shades of baffled. “Why?”
“Seeing you has been the highlight of my day since I met you. I already wanted to be with you before you made your wish, I was just too afraid. I guess all the incidents just gave me the nudge I needed. But, to be clear, you can be my hero without saving me. Just being punctual, not hogging the blankets, date night once a week and taking out the trash is more than enough heroism for me.”
His eyes lit up for a second before he turned grim again. “You don’t know me. Who I used to be.”
Her inner bird huffed. “I do know. And it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you like potato chips on your sandwiches. You collect baseball cards. And you always stop to give homeless people money. Those are the things that I love about you.” She giggled at his expression. “Don’t look so shocked. You’re not the only one who knows how to stalk.”
“Cecile,” he growled, pulling her against him.
She smiled and gave him a soft, brief kiss, mindful that Diaz was nearby and undoubtedly watching.
When they finally separated, Diaz gave them a meaningful leer. “I won’t ask for the details.”
“You won’t get them,” growled Boris.
“But I take it the wish is over and everything… worked out.”
Boris looked down at her, and she smiled as her swan swooned. He nodded at Diaz. “Yes.”
“Good, just one more leprechaun infected victim to go.”
*
“Winnie! Winnie! Some men are here to see you.”
“Mom, I’m right in the middle of something!” yelled Winston, hastily stashing his Wolfman costume under the couch cushions.
He turned to find two burly
men stomping down the basement stairs. By their scents, he could tell they were a jaguar and a liger. They wore bemused expressions, which was usual for anyone who’d just met his mom. He vaguely recognized them. One of them pulled out an SEA badge. His wolf backed away instinctively, his eyes flicking to the couch. Technically his late night activities were illegal after all. But how could they have known it was him?
“Winston Strong? I’m Diaz,” said the jaguar. “And this is Granger.” He nodded to the liger. “There was an incident at the SEA offices the other day involving a leprechaun.”
Winston nodded effusively. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Winnie,” called his mom, “would you and your friends like some homemade cider and apple cinnamon cookies?”
“No!” he shouted.
At the same time, Diaz called, “That sounds wonderful, Mrs. Strong.”
And Granger added devilishly. “Thank you, Mrs. Strong.”
Winston shrugged. “She has a bunch of apple trees in the backyard. They’re magicked to produce fruit all year round. Pretty much everything we eat has apples in it.”
“About the incident with the leprechaun,” said Diaz. “Since it happened have you noticed anything… strange?”
His wolf held his breath. “Like what?” he asked in what he worried was an abnormally high voice.
“Just out of the ordinary. The leprechaun really does grant wishes, but he doesn’t always use the most direct methods.”
Winston pretended to think, tapping his chin while his wolf paced nervously. They didn’t know he was Wolfman, but he did need to get rid of them. “Well, I just got past a level on Wolfgames that I’ve never been able to complete.”
The two agents gave him blank looks.
“It’s an RPG,” he explained.
They still looked blank.
“An online role-playing game.” Understanding finally dawned, and Winston tried to act surprised. “Actually, come to think of it, it was really easy. I was struggling with that level for months, and then I finished it in minutes last night.”
Granger squinted at him, and Winston maintained a guileless look while willing his heart to stop booming quite so damn loud.